Heffentrager, M.L.; Wasklewicz, T.; Sirianni, H.; Gares, P.; Kernstine, L., and Richter, J., 2023. Reproducibility in coastal physical laboratory experiments: Washover deposits and channel morphology. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(5), 823–835. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208.

The reproduction of physical laboratory experiments within the field of geomorphology does not occur often, despite the call to reproduce natural landscape experiments as a means of more accurately defining geomorphic changes across a variety of environmental settings. Reproducing published results not only supports prior findings but also builds evidence on geomorphic process across laboratory and natural scales. Overwash, the run-up of ocean water and sediment over a sandy barrier, is both a hazard when it impacts coastal properties and infrastructure and a natural resilience factor as it benefits sustained long-term evolution of the barrier island systems. Here, a coastal physical laboratory experiment that simulates overwash and resulting washover deposits is reproduced. The research objective is to expand the current knowledge of how these deposits form under different laboratory settings. Understanding the influence of the dimensions of a physical laboratory experimental table, sediment variations, and back barrier surfaces can give support to researchers planning future physical coastal laboratory experiments, especially those involving washover deposit formation. The results show that final washover deposit morphologies can be reproduced from similar experimental designs. Variations between the experiments resulted from confining boundaries of experimental tables. The refinement of coastal laboratory experiments, in tandem with fieldwork, enhances the understanding of overwash processes for both scientific research and applied scientific approaches.